


A Peaceful Afternoon Walk

by Burgie



Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-31
Updated: 2017-08-31
Packaged: 2018-12-22 03:52:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11959140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: Barney and Steve go on an afternoon walk with the cows.





	A Peaceful Afternoon Walk

Steve came around with his cows at promptly five in the afternoon, just as the skies of Jorvik were beginning to turn gold as the sun began its descent behind the mountains. The air was still warm from the day, as was the ground, but it would cool down quickly. Nevertheless, it was a very pleasant atmosphere for a walk.

"Good afternoon, Barney," Steve called as he approached. Barney looked up to see that the other man was riding one of his cows like any other Jorvegian would ride a horse, a rope tied around its neck acting as reins. Barney had to laugh at the sight.

"You couldn't find a horse?" asked Barney.

"Ol' Bess wanted to be ridden, didn't you?" said Steve, petting the cow's head. The cow lowed, and Barney smiled.

"Hold on, let me take a photo," said Barney. He rummaged among the sacks of things that decorated the outside of his silo, and finally came up with a camera. He fumbled it in his big hands, but finally he managed to take a decent photo of Steve on the back of a cow while the other cattle grazed or just stood around in the paddock. Fortunately, Barney had finished with the combine harvester for the day, so they were in no danger.

"Where would you like to go today?" asked Steve as Barney walked with him and the cows onto the road.

"I was thinking that perhaps we could check out the road to Fort Pinta," said Barney. "See if it's looking any better since Louisa chased that GED guy out."

"The way I heard it, she sprung him and then chased him until he crashed his car because of the road that he ruined," said Steve. He chortled. "Karma, huh?"

"Heh, you're not wrong," said Barney. They started up the road, the cattle milling about and walking slowly up the road. Fortunately, Barney couldn't see any damage here, so there was no risk of the cattle getting injured by twisting a hoof in a hole, or tripping in a hole. Or stepping on garbage, or any of the other awful things that could happen. But they could walk on the grass too, and many did, grazing as they walked.

"There are the chipmunks," said Steve, pointing to the little creatures that sat on the grass, nibbling on the lettuce leaves that Barney had left for them. Now, Barney had some chipmunks, too, and it was fine as long as they stayed out of the fields. Of course, they'd probably find their way in there once Eddie and Ferdinand returned to Silverglade Village to sell their horses, but they were easy to get rid of.

"They look happy," said Barney. "I can't imagine that digging through the road was easy for the poor tykes."

"Aye, with how rocky the ground is around here," said Steve. "It's only by Aideen's grace that we're able to grow such good crops, and raise such fine flocks of sheep and herds of cattle."

"Aideen's grace, and hard work," said Barney. "The road looks good here. Shall we continue on to Fort Pinta?"

"I can't imagine that James will be too happy to have a herd of cattle in the fort," said Steve. "Can you imagine the mess they'd make?"

"Ho ho, he'd get so mad at having to clean that up," said Barney, laughing. "We'll stop outside the fort, then. Or leave the cattle a little further up, near where the pony championship starts."

"Then we could go into the fort and get some soda," said Steve. "Mmm, I have worked up a thirst!"

"Well, you have been riding," said Barney. "I've been walking. But I'm quite parched."

"Ah, that's true," said Steve. "I'll buy the drinks, then, to make it fair."

"Thank you for offering," said Barney. 

"And maybe Ol' Bess or one of the other cows would like to give you a ride back," said Steve.

"I hope so," said Barney. "But it's fine if not."

At the pony championship area, Steve dismounted Ol' Bess and took the rope off of her neck, tucking it into his overalls. Then, the two men continued on alone to the fort, trusting the cattle to not wander too far. And even if they did wander off, this part of Jorvik had no large predators, and there were plenty of helpful riders and residents willing to bring back any stray cows.

As Steve and Barney entered the fort, however, they overheard raised voices near the inn. Knowing better than to eavesdrop, they continued on, and ordered their sodas. They sat at the disco to drink them, chatting about how their day had been and what their plans were for tomorrow. Barney planned to plant some carrots, while Steve was working on befriending another cat to keep the mice away (the cheese was working, but Steve was growing a little tired of people accusing him of stinking).

But the silence of the disco was suddenly broken by loud voices, followed by loud, thumping music.

"Why are you so upset about this?" asked a familiar voice, that of young James.

"Oh, gee, I dunno, you blaming me for every single bad thing that's happened to you?" another voice retorted. Steve recognised this one as belonging to Alex, the girl who helped him with mechanical issues from time to time.

"Well, it's true, isn't it?" said James. The music was clearly turned on to drown their voices for some reason, but they were yelling loud enough to be heard over it. They were also sitting quite close to Steve and Barney.

"And what does that mean?" asked Alex.

"Buck," said James. "He used me as a human hockey puck all through high school."

"Yeah, I remember, I was there," said Alex. "What about it?"

"He wouldn't have done that if you hadn't dated Katja," said James. "Correction, if you hadn't broken up with her."

"Well, I'm sorry it hurt you so much," said Alex. "And you know I suffered worse than you did. She outed me, James, and you have no idea what that's like. You were only beaten up, I had half the student body avoiding me and the other half trying to cure me!" Barney wanted to pipe up and say that Alex didn't need to be cured, but he didn't want them to know that they were being overheard. That would embarrass them.

"Then you shouldn't have broken up with her," said James. Alex took a deep breath, then let it out through her nose.

"James, I know you know, so you know what would have happened if I hadn't," said Alex. "It was better to break up that way. Enemies can't be lovers."

"She still loved you," said James. "And I know you still kinda like her, so why don't you just make things easier and date her again? I mean, Anne's out of the picture."

"Wait, so let me get this straight: you want me to date the girl who kidnapped and hypnotised you, threatened to kill Tin Can, outed me in high school, and, oh yeah, is one of the Generals and Dark Riders?" said Alex, listing the points on her fingers.

"I just don't wanna be hurt again," said James.

"Neither do I," said Alex. "And by the way, this is why I never help you."

"But you're my sister, you've always helped me," said James.

"Things change," said Alex, standing up and leaving the disco. James scrambled up and followed her.

"Alex! Wait!" James called, running after her. He stopped when a lightning bolt crashed down in front of him, and Alex continued walking. She looked very upset, and Barney got up to follow her.

"I'd advise you against that," said Steve, putting a hand on Barney's wrist. Barney stilled. If that man wasn't married, he'd hold his hand. "Alex can have quite the temper when she's riled."

"But you heard what happened," said Barney, turning to face him.

"I don't think we were supposed to hear," said Steve.

"Too bad," said Barney. "I just feel like I should comfort her. I know what it's like to have people avoid you or try to cure you."

"I know," said Steve, touching his hand now. "I do too. But give her time to calm down a little. Or at least get over the anger stage."

"My family fights, but never over things like that," said Barney. 

"Alex's situation is rather unique," said Steve. "A Soul Rider dating an agent of Garnok."

"You could make sense of that?" asked Barney, amazed. Steve nodded.

"I hear things," said Steve. "And see things that I can't always explain rationally. Not like I have the sight, nothing like that, but things like the chipmunks with letters tied to their legs, or pink lights in Silverglade Village and all over Jorvik, and once it looked like it was stormy weather but it was just eerie clouds. The druids called it The Garnok Effect. It was scary."

"I remember seeing that from a distance," said Barney. "But honestly, all I could make out from that conversation was that this Katja was a bad girl who hurt both Alex and James, but she hurt Alex worse. Emotional wounds are worse than physical. My family knows that better than anyone."

"Let's finish our sodas and then go after her," said Steve. "She won't go far. When The Garnok Effect happened, she was scared. But not because of the Shadow Seekers. She told me that her girlfriend is trapped in Pandoria, and that the happenings in Pandoria made her worry about her girlfriend. I tried to comfort her then, but she wouldn't talk to me."

"You are much more than just a handsome face," said Barney. Steve smiled as he swallowed another mouthful of his soda.

"I am but a simple farmer, who just happens to know of some of Jorvik's greatest secrets," said Steve.

They finished their sodas in relative silence, and then Barney could finally go after Alex. Steve went with him, and they found her on the beach, the wind blowing through her blonde hair as she stood staring out to sea.

"Oh, hey," said Alex, turning to look at them. "I guess you guys heard everything, huh?"

"You were a little loud," said Steve.

"Sorry," said Alex. "I guess I'm just really easy to annoy at the moment."

"Does James usually talk to you like that?" asked Barney.

"No," said Alex, pushing her hair behind her ear. "It's just that certain events have reignited an old argument."

"Is it secret?" asked Steve.

"No, I just don't want to go over it," said Alex with a sigh. "But suffice it to say that Katja came back and somehow, without her even setting foot on the mainland, that triggered James' repressed memories of being kidnapped, and they reappeared in nightmare form. He was supposed to forget, but... I guess you can't trust your friends." She folded her arms in front of her chest, staring out at the ocean. Or at the land on the other side of the sea, to be specific.

"Magic is strange, from what I know of it," said Steve.

"Pretty much," said Alex. 

"But that's only half the problem, isn't it?" said Barney. "When this girl outed you, wasn't she ostracised too?"

"No, which I thought was weird and unfair at the time. Of course, later on, I learned that she wasn't ostracised because she used her magic to make the people continue to like her. Wish I had that ability."

"Don't we all," Barney muttered. "But just know that if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm here."

"And so am I," said Steve. "Even if you just need a big task to distract yourself, I'm sure I can dig up some broken farm equipment."

"Thanks," said Alex, giving him a smile. "Both of you. I think I'll be okay, but I'll keep your offers in mind."

The two men walked with the cattle back to Steve's farm, talking along the way.

"In my family, I've seen what the worst of humanity can look like," said Barney as they walked. "And not in the fights. Harley and I are both interested in men, so we've received our fair share of backlash. And Courtney... well, she was born as Kenny. That Karl guy is twitterpated with her, though, and he loves every part of her." Barney smiled as he thought of this.

"I think James just doesn't understand," said Steve. "It's hard to understand from the other side of the fence."

Barney decided not to ask what side of the fence Steve was on. Instead, they bade each other goodnight and returned to their respective farms. Barney put today's photo in his photo album, smiling at the image of Steve sitting on Ol' Bess. Then, still smiling, he put his photo album away and climbed up the silo. It was lonely up here now without Big Bonnie, but it was also peaceful.

Barney was still smiling as he turned in for the night.


End file.
